In many ways we should have predicted that a good defence meeting a wasteful strikeforce would leave us goalless after 90 minutes. But that barely does justice to a scintillating game that proved you don't necessarily have a bad game just because it's 0-0.

Oh, and there were plenty of flashpoints too, which bode well for their second league meeting of the season later on this year.

Indeed, in Diego Costa we may have found someone that Liverpool fans dislike more than Jose Mourinho, but more on that later...

Here are five things we learned:

Courtois is the man

Thi time: Courtois was outstanding again (Image: Michael Regan)

Chelsea's midfield was being bypassed with unusual ease as they pushed on in the first half, and with Kurt Zouma defending like a fire engine heading to the wrong blaze, the defence was suffering the same fate.

Just as well then that Thibaut Courtois continues to be in such good form, throwing an arm, leg or face at anything goalwards.

It was Jose Mourinho's biggest decision of the summer to bring the in-demand Belgian back from Atletico (in the face of interest from Real Madrid, among others) and make him Blues number 1 at such a young age (his Wikipedia says 22 but his face says 12).

But he's been vindicated in throwing Courtois in at the deep end and, as well as his excellent stops in the first half, the way he flew off his line to prevent Raheem Sterling scoring from a one-on-one just after the hour mark was outstanding.

Poor Petr Cech must be watching on from the sidelines as one of the best reserve goalkeepers in memory.

And Thibaut wasn't the only one

His confidence may have been decimated this season as Liverpool's public chase for a goalkeeper, any goalkeeper, made the headlines.

But in truth, Simon Mignolet's poor performances deserved nothing better and the Belgian remained bench-bound even though Brad Jones looked far from assured when afforded his chance in goal.

Injury to the Australian opened the back door for a return though, and you wonder if this game could have been a turning point though.

Long barrier: Mignolet thwarts Costa (Image: Mike Hewitt)

First was a wonderful save - changing direction after he had already committed - from Diego Costa, before denying the same man by tackling bravely at his feet (above).

They were superb stops in arguably the Reds' biggest game of the season and while they ended up crashing out, he came out of this game hugely in credit.

Rodgers is strong-willed and looks like he's made his mind up about Mignolet's future already, but if the former Sunderland man can put in a Lucas-esque bid to resurrect his Anfield career by turning in performance after performance then it's only going to give the Ulster-born coach a headache.

Diego Costa is a controversy magnet

Tell me you love me: Diego Costa (Image: Julian Finney)

Chelsea's only concern as Diego Costa's snuck a naughty little stamplet on Emre Can would have been that a retrospective suspension could see him miss Saturday's monster clash with Man City.

But minutes later when Martin Skrtel's clear trip on Costa wasn't given, they saw the true cost of a player gaining a reputation. While the Slovakian defender is renowned for his grasp of the dark arts, not even he pointed for a goal kick as he was caught flat-footed by the Spaniard and looked to have conceded a clear penalty.

Michael Oliver may have had a whisper in his ear about the earlier incident or he may simply have seen Costa drop to the ground too many times this season, but the non-award was not 'karma' as some had asserted - it was simply a wrong decision.

Skrting around the issue: Costa gets away with another (Image: Mike Hewitt)

Jamie Carragher had it spot on when he tweeted during the game that Liverpool fans couldn't deny that Luis Suarez had that nasty streak too. What Carra didn't realise was that: a) Football fans on the Internet always get angry regardless, and b) Costa would do it again.

Ding ding! Second round and it's Skrtel again getting up close and personal with the Brazilo-Spaniard, this time with the anger getting ramped up a notch.

The next time it was Steven Gerrard in the mix, with Costa finally given a yellow for going forehead-to-forehead with the Liverpool skipper.

What it will all overshadow is that the Chelsea striker was brilliant. His movement and energy make him so difficult to play against, while having a dark side to him tests the mentality of his opponents as well.

He may not be particularly pleasant to come up against, but that's not his job. His role is to help Chelsea win games and he did that once more in their most important match of the season so far.

Bran the man (again)

(Image: Mike Hewitt)

In many ways, Branislav Ivanovic is the absolutely perfect Jose Mourinho player.

He's a solid, reliable 7/10 performer in a number of positions, as well as being blessed with the imposing physique that the Special One values so highly.

But somehow, at some point, Ivanovic just became absolutely clutch - as our American cousins would say.

The Serb popped up with a vital goal again, just as he did when Chelsea beat City last season and in Europe against Benfica.

His defensive display was undoubtedly impressive, but his goal was decisive, and that's why he'll be walking out at Wembley next month.

Nil-nils don't have to be bad

It was always going to be a heavyweight clash.

But with the stamps, headbutts and brawls this game turned out to be more like a cage fight at times. Even away from the sideshows and snide shoves this was a high-energy game played for long periods at a needlessly frantic pace.

For the neutral, it made it an entertaining and fascinating encounter, only lacking a red card or a stunning strike to be the cherry on top.